The alarm rang at 3:50 a.m. June 14, and Tony Osachoff had yet to even begin his escape from Alcatraz.

Several hours later, he made the courageous trek through the turbulent, frigid waters to shore –– and faster than he’d hoped.

The wee-hour bells were actually his athlete wake-up call last month –– not 70-odd years ago stationed with the likes of Al Capone as a prisoner on ‘The Rock’ in San Francisco Bay –– in anticipation of the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon.

After a quick face rinse and a gulp or two of water, the 39-year-old Osachoff –– a Coquitlam businessman and former Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce president –– considered shaving but recanted. Not THIS morning, anyway.

“I didn’t want to get a nick and attract the sharks,” Osachoff thought wisely.

At 4:30 a.m., Osachoff cycled through the dark, empty San Francisco streets and arrived in the race’s transition area. He then boarded a bus to be body-marked by a volunteer, who made sure to Sharpie his arms, legs and even the back of his hands. Again, trepidation crept into Osachoff’s mind.

“I was beginning to wonder if this was proper triathlete’s body-marking or, rather, making sure all appendages had a number for ‘just in case,’” said Osachoff, who’s in his third year competing in triathlons and has completed four Olympic-distance races.

On the boat ride from the mainland to the haunting, old prison grounds which closed in 1963 and now serve as a tourist attraction, Osachoff and other geared-up, first-time Alcatraz triathletes were pumping information out of others who’d previously participated in the event.

The boat then, rather suddenly, anchored on the shores of Alcatraz.

After the national anthem and an ominous group prayer, a horn sounded at 8 a.m. and, like hungry seals plunging for plump salmon, more than 1,900 competitors dove in eagerly to begin the first portion of the race, a 1.5-mile swim.

All went torridly from boat to water in a span of six minutes.

In its 29 years as a maximum-security jail, it was reputed nobody ever escaped alive from Alcatraz. Osachoff can see why.

“The water was clear and not too cold (54 Fahrenheit) but the swim was brutal,” Osachoff said. “The water was turbulent and, as the swimmers fanned out, we seemed to be cutting across each other. I was sighting about every five strokes to make sure I was heading toward the reference point on shore, Sutro Tower.

“The effect of the current is amazing. You head straight for shore but end up more than a mile down the beach.”

With swimming being his weakest of the triathlon’s three disciplines, Osachoff was glad to just hit dry land.

“I finished the swim in 55 minutes,” he said. “I now had 1,400 racers ahead of me but felt good there were still 400 behind me.”

On his way to the transition area to begin the hilly, 18-mile bike portion, Osachoff saw yet something else that raised a red flag in his mind.

“I saw one very bloodied cyclist being attended to at the bottom of one descent, validating my caution,” he said.

Osachoff used a hometown comparison to best describe the at-times daunting and dangerous journey by bike up and down the steep San Francisco streets.

“It’s like going down Johnson Street from Westwood Plateau then turning and going right back up Lansdowne [Drive],” he said.

Again, Osachoff made it –– at least to the start of the 8-mile run, the final segment of the grueling race and his personal favourite. But at about the mid-way mark came a rather intimidating obstacle.

“You had to run up a sand ladder... 400 steps,” Osachoff groaned. “And for the last part of it, the sand was really deep. It was like running through four feet of snow.”

Osachoff then made his ultimate goal –– the finish line.

“I finished with nothing left in the tank, so I’m pretty happy I gave my all,” he said. “My overall time was 3:24:08, nearly 20 minutes better than my goal, and I was able to pass 497 racers on the bike and run to finish 903rd overall.”

Who cares that the men’s elite winner clocked in at 2:07:25 –– roughly one hour and 17 minutes better than Osachoff, who, in the process, helped Athletes in Kind raise $5,170 for charity.

When contacted by The Tri-City News yesterday (Thursday), Osachoff was holidaying with his family in Kelowna. He’s taking a much-deserved breather but plans to do Ironman Canada in Penticton for the second straight year later this summer.

When asked if he’ll compete in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon again, Osachoff waited a spell before answering.

Then came words of uncertainty, the same uncertainty that engulfed him at least a few times before and during that very race.

“I don’t know, actually.”